We approached the reef from the north tacking our way in against the wind which was now beginning to clock round to the ESE. On the way in we were hailed by one of the two vessels in the reef, Ile de Grace. We learned that both they and Trim, who we’d met in Palmerston, were anchored in the middle of the reef, presumably to give them room to drag through the recent heavy weather. Our plan was to motor on through to the east side of the reef and anchor on the sand. We learned they were planning a fish supper which we agreed to join and would make plans throughout the day. We had plenty of choice where to anchor and picked a spot in about 10ft of water.
Shortly after arriving we were met by John and Jenny from Ile de Grace on their way back from snorkeling on the reef. They wanted to say hello. They were interested in the hybrid boat as I knew was Ken from Trim so we suggested having the fish dinner aboard Dignity. Not long after, Ken and Laurie popped by on their way out to the reef and we had a quick chat with them too.
We spent the rest of the morning resting and catching up on some needed sleep.
After lunch, Ben and I headed out for a snorkel on the reef, Helen deferring her swim until she’d heard from us. We were out for about an hour. The water was a little cooler than we’ve been used to and their was a bit of a current coming over the reef. All the same, the water was crystal clear. We could see for a very long way. There were plenty of fish to see, often quite large, and we had a reef shark cruise along with us for a while. We had hoped to see some lobsters. Ben spotted one that looked a little ill and shot it. We discovered it was just a hollow carapace – no wonder it didn’t look it’s best.
At 5pm local time we all met aboard Dignity for dinner. Everyone had cooked something different and it was all good. There was some excellent curried mahi mahi, some grilled wahoo and some mahi mahi pasta from Helen accompanied by freshly baked bread and followed by lemon cake and cookies. Delicious.
Wanting to get into the new timezone and realizing we have another two hours to shift in Tonga we stayed up to watch a movie. Helen didn’t stay a wake for too long but Ben and I made it through. Here we were, miles from anywhere, anchored on a pinnacle of rock rising from the floor of the Pacific watching Kill Bill with the stars shining over head.
We plan to stay here today and, if the weather permits, leave for Niue tomorrow.
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